Residents urged to sign ‘Save Free Bus Pass’ petition

Published:08:40Saturday 30 August 2014

The people of East Lancashire are being asked to join a campaign to keep the free bus pass.

The Love The Bus Pass petition already has 56,000 signatures and campaigners are hoping to boost this to 100,000 in time for it to be delivered to Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday, September 10th.

The petition, supported by the National Pensioners’ Convention, is the first major step towards pressuring all major political parties to pledge to keep the bus pass as a universal entitlement.

Richard Worrall, campaign co-ordinator, said: “The huge community, family, economic, health and well being benefits of the pass to society are at risk and politicians need to understand they attack it at their own electoral peril.”

Coalition politicians called for reform in 2011 with Nick Clegg saying he wanted to ban “millionaires” joy riding on the buses.

But Mr Worrall said this would save “next to nothing” and was a way of destroying the principle of universal entitlement and introducing means testing.

Anyone who would like to sign the petition is asked to phone 01922 641084 or email richardvworrall@yahoo.com, or by post 46, Winn House, Burrowes Street, Walsall, WS2 8NW. Please include your name and address and a petition will be sent to you.